Molly De Marco's blog

As many of us in Orange County continue to reel from the recent election and are afraid of what might happen under a, shudder, Trump presidency, we’d like to share some things that we can do to help our neighbors, particularly those most likely to be marginalized—especially under a new administration.

The Northside Neighborhood Initiative was launched on March 9, 2015 as a partnership between the Marian Cheek Jackson Center for Saving & Making History, Self-Help Credit Union, UNC-Chapel Hill, and the Town of Chapel Hill. You can read more about that launch in a prior story on OrangePolitics written by Hudson Vaughn, Assistant Director of the Jackson Center.

Today a celebration was held that included an update on the progress of that Initiative to keep homes affordable, help long-time residents to stay in their homes, and foster good relationships between permanent residents and students. The highlights included:

Three homes have been purchased through the Initiative.

31 homes have received repairs.

Noise complaints have dropped by 60%.

A summary of the event can be found below in the Storify of the tweets, including details of the work that Orange County Habitat for Humanity is doing to increase the supply of affordable homes in the community.

A presentation today at the Chapel Hill Public Library shed some light on the history of Carrboro's Jones Ferry Road, recently the site of road improvements and Michael Brown's latest mural. Learn more in the storify of tweets from the presentation.

This summer, thanks to Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger, the InterFaith Council for Social Service, No Kid Hungry NC, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, and with funding from UNC’s Food for All, our community launched an effort to provide lunches to as many of the 30 percent of children who qualify for free and reduced meals during the school year as possible.

The Chapel Hill and Carrboro downtowns are vibrant spaces where you can find good food, great music, art, lectures, run into friends and jump on a Chapel Hill Transit bus for free. Some residents have started sharing what they love about our downtowns over on Twitter with the hashtag #loveourdowntowns. Here's a collection of what's been shared so far. Join in on Twitter or share your thoughts on this thread. We'll post another set soon